Heavy Snow Causes Difficult Driving Conditions | News

Title (Max 100 Characters)

BUFFALO, NY - The heavy snow caused some problems on the roadways Wednesday, as a large system that drifted through the the Midwest, reached the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region.

Erie County 911 tells 2 on Your Side that there were problems on the Thruway, during the evening rush hour in both directions. Also, that there were slowdowns on the 190 in and around Buffalo.

Dispatchers say that people had to pull off the roads because of the wintery conditions and that there were some accidents.

On the 190, some drivers could barely see, as the snow came down quickly.

Charles Morgante, the operations director for the NYSDOT in the Buffalo region said, "they're talking about some snowfall rates of up to two inches an hour and when that happens if we have some wind, any place that's open specifically north-south routes because of the way the wind will be blowing, that's where I would be very cautious in driving."

Meantime, there were a few traffic issues in the Southern Tier. For example, a rollover in Boston near the 219 happened as the snow began to fall around 3 p.m. Plows were trying to take care of some of the major roads like the 219 and the 39.

On Main Street in Springville, plows were trying to move as fast as possible in getting roads clear. Some crews have been getting tired.

Philip Drozd the senior engineer of the Erie County Highway Department said, "We did a little bit of pre-treating prior to the snow, we tried to catch it as good as we could, the snow started around 3 o'clock and came fast and furious as we like to call it, we were out there once we saw a few flurries, but we're keeping up the best we can."

The Erie County 911 center adds that the Clarence service station on the Thruway had some slippery conditions that forced drivers to pull over. Also, on the Thruway near Depew there were some slow downs as well.